Shots From Home

Some shots taken over the holidays:






Off to KL now for my industrial attachment. Will be there till May. In the meantime, Happy New Year 2008, everyone!

Norad Tracks Santa

And they track him to Taiping!

Get That In Your Head!

I woke up today, stumbled down the stairs, fumbled through the pages of the Star (15 Dec) and this gem of a report hits me smack in the face - Najib: Look at Gitmo First. According to our dear DPM:

KUALA LUMPUR: The United States should cover its own backyard before demanding that other countries give their political prisoners a fair trial, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said.

“Can they give a fair trial to the detainees in Guantanamo Bay? We’ll only respond if they do so,” the Deputy Prime Minister told a press conference after chairing the 36th Malaysia-Indonesia General Border Committee Meeting (Malindo GBC) yesterday.

I mean WTF, man? Comparing your wrong to a larger wrong doesn't make you right, dammit! When will you guys in the govt see it? Damn, I just feel like slapping them hard on the back of the head and scream "wake up!!". Real beh tahan la reading this kinda stuff everyday. Thank heavens for the availability of blogs and alternative news online.

Maybe I should hope a Democrat wins the US elections, and see if our DPM would give ISA-ites a free and fair trial after Gitmo is dismantled.

And yes, in case you're wondering, I'm on the side of the Republicans for 2008.

Speak Now or Forever Hold Your...

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn't a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

Kopi Moment #4

"For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to return."

- Leonardo Da Vinci

Pictures of a Different Malaysia

Three different rallies (bar council, bersih, hindraf), 2 police crackdowns in the last two months. And probably the only reason our boys in blue didn't fire teargas during the bar council march was for fear of getting their asses sued by a thousand lawyers. Which brings me to a few pictures I found while reading some blogs. Hope I'm not infringing any copyright laws by reproducing them here.

From Jeffooi.com at the Hindraf Rally:

From Kickdefella at the Bersih rally:

Anyone wanna tell me we ain't a police state yet? What happened to Voltaire's "I may not agree with what you do, but I will defend to death your right to do it?"

Arresting and brutalizing peaceful protesters is shameful.

Firing teargas into a temple is shameful.

Spinning and telling lies to the people who put their trust in you to run the country is shameful.

But I guess that word really does describe our government doesn't it? That one word: shameful.

Textures

I wouldn't claim to be a nature lover by any stretch (except when it comes to sandy beaches with crystal clear blue water) but what never fails to amaze me is the patterns and textures that mother nature manages to create. The variety is absolutely astounding. Here are some pics from Bako taken well over a month ago.

Random Photography

Dug through my collection of pictures today and came up with some stuff I took from early this year up till pretty recently. First off, The main road near my Desa Ilmu home at Unimas. Take a guess at how much photoshop work went into this:

Then, some B&W shots of KLIA that I thought would look really nice:

Night shots of Kuala Lumpur, taken from the 22nd floor of the Dynasty Hotel during my stay there for the Malaysian Intervarsity Economics Debating Championship:

An alley at Desa Ilmu:

Shots from my flight to KL on the 24th of November: